Cologne witchcraft trial reopens after 400 years
Source: The Local A witchcraft trial is re-opening in Cologne on Monday in the hope that one woman will have her name cleared, centuries after being burned at the stake. […]
Egypt’s Unwise Course
NY Times Editorial: …….The army is under fire at home for holding back the democratic tide, abusing civilians even more than Mr. Mubarak and failing to govern effectively, so it is using America as a scapegoat. The confrontation is poisoning relations with a key ally at a time when Egypt […]
The Silent Minority: ‘Only Muslims and men can live in this country’
Express Tribune: It started late, rushed to resolve and concluded with dismay. Indeed, the amount of interest displayed in the session on ‘The Silent Minority: A voice for the voiceless’ at the second day of the Karachi Literature, unfortunately reflected reality in Pakistan. While the issue is one of immense significance, […]
Policing the religious police in Saudi Arabia
KHALID ALNOWAISER, ARABNEWS Recently, the Saudi government appointed a new president for the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who is known to be a more […]
The Syrian opposition’s great mistake
By GWYNNE DYER ARABNEWS Published: Feb 12, 2012 AS THE Syrian opposition abandons non-violent protest for armed resistance, many people think this means that President Bashar Assad and his Baathist regime are in even deeper trouble than before. On the contrary, it means that Assad and the Baathists are winning. […]
Time for Kingdom (of Saudi Arabia) to enact an anti-discrimination law
By DR. QAISAR HAMED METAWEA, Q.METAWEA@MAKLAWFIRM.NET ARABNEWS Discrimination exists in almost every country but the levels and types of such discrimination vary vastly from one country to another. Also, discrimination is an issue that should be tackled by every country and it should not be ignored. Some countries have made […]
Threats of war cloud hopes for Middle East
Washington Post: BEIRUT — Fears of an as-yet-undefined Middle Eastern war are darkening the horizons of a region that only a year ago was celebrating the fall of dictators, the ascent […]
Editorial: An outrageous ban: Voices of Sanity from Pakistan
Source / Courtesy: The Express Tribune Express Tribune: Things in our country are really moving from the absurd, to even more absurd. And most frightening of all is the hatred […]
Now for some home truths
WE in the media have spared no effort to vilify the civilian elected politician but our vigour seems to taper off dramatically in the case of other significant players in the country. Take for example a news item in this newspaper on Wednesday which said four armed Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) […]
Breaking the law to provide sanctuary
by Luigi Jorio, swissinfo.ch The number of asylum seekers who “disappear” before their cases are processed is growing. Some are given shelter by concerned citizens, who risk prosecution to help. It is a double flight for those who have left their own country and made it to Switzerland, only to […]
Support to Palestinians earns Crown Prince UN donor award
By ARAB NEWS NEW YORK: UN-Habitat has named Crown Prince Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, as the winner of its newly instituted Outstanding Donor Award for his crucial […]
George Carey: time to say that Christians have rights too
The Daily Telegraph: George Carey was not regarded as an outspoken Archbishop of Canterbury by the standards of both his predecessor and his successor. While Robert Runcie and Rowan Williams generated and still generate headlines and ruffle politicians’ feathers, George Carey was largely overshadowed during his 11 years as head […]
OIC rights commission and the challenges ahead
By EKMELEDDIN IHSANOGLU ARABNEWS With the approach of the first official session of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) in Jakarta, Indonesia on Feb. 20, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is embarking on a path replete with challenges, not the least of which is promoting and protecting human […]
Radical U.S. Muslims Little Threat, Study Says
NY Times: Of 14,000 murders last year in the US not a single was attributed to Islamist radicalism. A feared wave of homegrown terrorism by radicalized Muslim Americans has not […]
New culture for women
ALL those working for women’s rights are receiving accolades for their continued run of success in the area of legislation. They deserve more of this because they have played a key role in getting the lawmakers round to their point of view. The passage of the National Commission on the […]
Why speak for the Ahmadis?
………. The State has a responsibility to restrain these fanatical, terrorist outfits from spewing venom against fellow citizens and so do the free media and the liberals. Every one of […]
A Year After the Ahmadi Murder, Why Is the Govt Going Soft on Hard-Liners?
The Jakarta Globe: One year ago today, Indonesia hit the headlines with the murder of three members of the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect, by a mob over a thousand strong in […]
Activists Question Indonesia President’s Silence Over Religious Violence
Activists are questioning the lack of response from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to a letter sent by international human rights organizations about the government’s handling of cases of religious discrimination. According to Indonesia’s Human Rights Working Group, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, has sent a letter […]
The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World: Is it only a war against Christians?
Courtesy Newsweek: Ayan Hirsi Ali: We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny. But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because […]
Minister says ‘we’re not all equal’
FRENCH Interior Minister Claude Gueant has caused political uproar by claiming that not all civilisations are equal. AFP “Contrary to what the left’s relativist ideology […]